Vengeful Spirit
by Lexarius
Summary: Misato Katsuragi is dead. But her mission is only beginning. The power and wrath of The Spectre belong to her now. (on hiatus)
1. Death and Rebirth

**Prologue:  
Death and Rebirth**

The pain was diminishing. From a ferocious agony to a martyrdom; from martyrdom to annoyance, and finally, a dull throb.

Everything was dark around her; she was so, so cold. She could hear bubbles with each breath. "This is bad...", she thought. "I´m sorry..."

She had done everything on her power to give a fighting chance to the kid who was almost a son to her. And the girl she had failed to, she had tried her best to protect her. She wondered if it had been enough. For any of them.

Far away, she heard screams and shots. She tried to get up. Her muscles did not respond. Even opening her eyes was like trying to push a car.

"Like my car... Shinji helped me to put it back on the ground... ...Shinji..." She was delirious.

She felt her head sliding down the wall, she was falling sideways.

Her last thought and her last emotion while the life abandoned her body were "It´s not FAIR!", and a terrible anger.

She awoke in a dark place. She felt like somebody was watching her. And she could hear several voices, whispering in the dark.

"No, she doesn´t deserve Hell." She heard.

"She doesn´t deserve Heaven either. Her soul is tainted." Added another voice.

"Her intentions were pure." A third voice.

She got on her feet, a little bit of light let her see that the floor was polished wood. The voices carried on with their debate.

"But her behavior was reckless."

She saw two long desks, one at each side. In each desk, five silhouettes; all of them had spiky hair, and... horns? Long ears?

There was another desk at the center, not as wide as the others, but much taller. ItTs occupant was immobile, silent.

Misato furrowed her brow, and stomped on the floor. "Shut up! I have to get back to NERV right now!"

The voices shut up. The silhouette on the central desk seemed to stare at her, and finally, he spoke. "Whatever happens now, it´s no longer your bussiness."

Misato exploded in anger. "Not my bussiness? It´s a blood bath! Unless I do something RIGHT NOW, they will kill my children! And you dare to say it´s not my bussiness!"

"It isn´t. Not anymore."

"I swore to myself that I would fight for them to my last breath! And I won´t abandon them now."

"You did. You fought to your last breath. Now, the only thing left is to decide what will happen to your soul."

"NO! I won´t let them die!" And tried to find a way out from that room.

A female silhouette whispered something on the ear of the one who had spoken. He nodded. "Your soul, Misato Katsuragi, is grey. Neither the white of purity nor the blackness of evil dominate on it. You lived from an extreme to the other."

Furious, Misato faced him. "That doesn´t help me at all." She answered coldly.

"You are as deserving of rewards as of punishments. The judges can´t decide on your fate. You will have to wait until they reach a verdict."

"Well, while they decide, I´m going back. Maybe I can still do something."

"No. You would be only a ghost, powerless."

Misato got even angrier. "IT´S NOT FAIR! They will kill them all!" Tears of fury and helplessness rolled down her cheeks. "Those bastards will kill my children!" She stomped towards the central desk, with each step, the wooden floor echoed.

The main judge paid attention to a new whisper from the female figure at his right. Watching Misato all the time.

"You are risking your chance, remote as it is, to enter Heaven."

"WHAT DO I CARE ABOUT HEAVEN NOW?" Misato hit the desk with her palm, with such strenght that she should have broken her hand. Instead, the desk cracked.

The female figure slid a box over the desk, and for the first time, spoke at her. "Are you willing to lose everything to save them? Would you embrace heaven´s wrath to save them? Will you take on your hands the revenge of the murdered dead?"

"Yes." Misato´s eyes burned with inner fire.

"Open the box, then. Tame the wrath inside. And you will have the power you need to save them, but you will stain your soul, forever."

The side desks emptied in an instant. Their occupants would not dare to stay in the room-

Misato opened the box. A monstruous skull came out, wrapped in green and white rags. Immediatly, the skull tried to bite Misato. She drew away one hand and punched the skull with the other. The skull backed away, surrounding her, like a shark. The rags floated behind it.

Misato turned around smoothly, keeping an eye on her opponent. The skull came close for a bite, Misato dodged it.

Too late, Misato realized that it was a trap, the rags wrapped around her, tightening painfully. A pull, and she fell to the floor. Mockingly, the skull hovered over her, enjoying its victory.

Misato still had a free hand, and took the chance. She grabbed the rags with all her strenght, and pulled rapidly. She grabbed the surprised skull, digging her fingers in the eye sockets. It was terribly cold inside, even colder than the Antarctic wind that haunted her nightmares.

She wouldn´t release her prey. The skull flew all around the room, dragging Misato behind. The Major´s body crashed against the desks, the walls, the floor, but held fast.

"Give up already, you bastard!"

Finall, long minutes later, the skull stopped, accepting its new mistress. The rags released Misato,who stood up, still holding the skull.

"You have won, Misato Katsuragi. You will go back to Earth, to face evil. Until you erradicate it or understand it. You are the Onryö. You are the wrath of the murdered dead, the revenge of the innocents. May all the gods pity you."

The rags wrapped around her once again, not like a net or a shroud, but as an elegant kimono, made of white silk, the brims and the sash were emerald green. Her purple hair became as black as a moonless night, there were even stars shining between her locks. The skull hovered in front of her face, and slowly, fused with her, becoming a porcelain mask, its right side was covered with cracks. A blood tear falling from her left eye was the only touch of color on her new face. The eyes were the deepest shadows imaginable.

The Onryö held up her hands, covered by the sleeves. Her porcelain mask twisted into a feral grin, and her clothes flared, moved by an unfelt gale. Her hands came out, completely fleshless. Just bone claws at the end of long skeletal fingers.

She threw her head back, and a bloodthirsty cackle filled the room.

 **Author Notes:**

This story was inspired by the stories of the Spectre by Michael Fleischer and Jim Aparo in the 1970´s, and the amazing run John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake had on The Spectre title in the 1990´s.

A very intriguing aspect of Ostrander & Mandrake´s run was the appearance of several previous Spectres; men, and at least a woman, from different cultures, places and times, who took the cloak and hood of the divine wrath before Jim Corrigan did.

Sadly, the other Spectres were barely explored. I really wanted to see more of them.

I respectfully dedicate this humble story to Michael Fleischer, Jim Aparo, John Ostrander, and Tom Mandrake. Several scenes in later chapters draw from their work.


	2. Retribution

**Retribution**

Meanwhile, in NERV, JSSFD commandos went systemathically through halls and rooms, executing anybody who had the bad fortune to meet them. In a side hall, next to a lift, a commando examined the still body of Major Misato Katsuragi.

"Bah! What a waste." He dropped Misato´s arm to the floor, she had no pulse, and the body rested in a big pool of blood.

One of his team-mates was putting explosive charges on the lift door, they had seen the Major push one of the pilots in.

Before he could put the electronic fuse, a bubbling wheeze got their attention. It came from the body of the unlucky Operations Chief. The three commandos felt a chill, seeing the dead hands tremble. The body started to rise, spasmodically, head and arms hung limply from the torso, and the feet almost slid on the blood.

With a wet snap, Misato´s neck straightened, a gurgling came from the throat, and half clotted drops of blood spattered on the floor. It seemed as if the cadaver was trying to speak.

At last, the commandos reacted, they emptied their weapons on the reanimated body. Pieces of flesh and bone fell from the body. The cadaver still rose, among grotesque snaps.

It stood. Dark blood flowed from its wounds. It wheezed, dragging a word, "...Mmuurrrrrr... ...derrrrrr... ...errrssssssss..."

The soldiers were paralyzed, they kept pulling the triggers long after their magazines were empty.

The clicks from their weapons and the snaps from the bones sounded alike, while the animated body rose in the air, floating like a marionette. The bloodied clothes changed shape and color, the hair grew longer and longer, floating around the head like a slice of night; the face went paler and paler, and the eyes were two black wells of emptyness.

The apparition´s white and green kimono moved as if underwater.

"MONSTERS!" the woman´s voice chilled the blood in the soldiers´ veins. One tried to run away, but the Onryö´s hair caught him in an instant, wrapping his body like a fly in a spider´s web.

The prey wriggled weakly, trying to escape. A lone strand of hair moved close to his neck, moving like a snake. Suddenly, so fast nobody saw it, the hair cut the air with a whistling sound.

Horrified, the commandos that minutes before had walked into the deepest of NERV; killing unarmed civilians on the way, their deaths merely a score to brag about later; saw the head of their mate fall to the floor, in a rain of blood.

The Onryö dropped her victim. Her gaze rested on the commando who put the explosives on the lift´s door. A single movement of her hand, and the explosive charges jumped from the door, sticking to his body. Screaming, the man tried to rip his clothes off.

It was useless. A movement from the ghost sent him flying down to the lower floors. The explosions was deafening. Blood and gore rained over the last two occupants of the level. The white kimono was soaked in so much blood it seemed to be crimson. The Onryö straightened her neck, and the blood disappeared gradually flom her clothes, among suction noises.

The last commando soiled himself.

A bloodthirsty laugh from the Onryö was the last thing he heard. Her poisonous smile the last thing he saw.

Back in the cages, Shinji Ikari screamed. Unit-01, the only way he could fight, was frozen in bakelite.

"Move, damn it! Do something!"

Through the comms, he could hear Asuka Langley Soryu fighting. She was alone, against the nine MP Evangelions. Asuka was good, but in such disadvantage, she was doomed.

Defeated, the boy howled his anguish and desperation. Begging for help.

Somebody heard him.

A platoon was about to break into Central Dogma. Everybody there knew they only had a few minutes left. Makoto tried to convince Maya to use a gun, but the Lieutenant was completely dominated by her fear.

The door exploded, and a cloud of black smoke entered the room. From both sides of the door, shots boomed.

The JSSDF commandos were shooting as they entered. The NERV techs tried to hide behind the furniture, and sell their lifes dearly.

The smoke would take only a few moments to clear.

Suddenly, the dense smoke stopped its movement, and went back to the door. The commandos were so focused on killing NERV´s personnel they didn´t notice as the smoke covered them, blinding them for a moment. Screams of fear and pain were heard, and a rain of bullets came out the cloud. All fell to the floor before touching anybody.

When the smoke cleared, the soldiers lay on the floor. Dead.

Shigeru Aoba was the closest to the fallen. He gathered his courage, and his eyes locked into Makoto´s. Both nodded, and Shigeru crawled carefully to the closest commando, while Makoto covered him with his own gun. Shigeru took the machine gun from the man´s hands. He poked the man´s ribs with his gun. The metal went into to the body, without any resistance. The man turned into dust in a few seconds, Shigeru uncovered the face, finding a backened skull, barely covered by a few strands of disintegrating flesh. Silently, Shigeru murmured thanks, that whatever had happened, it had happened behind the smoke.

It was a fast and horrible death. Shigeru never knew that, had not been for a kid´s screams, it would had been a slow, and much more horrible death.

All the soldiers that had invaded NERV had suffered the same fate.

Above, Unit-02 red armor was covered in blood. The blood of her enemies. Finally, without any shadow of doubt, Asuka had proved who was the top Evangelion pilot.

Around her, lay the broken pieces of the nine white Evangelions. She only had a few seconds of power, but it did not matter. She had won. She allowed herself a smile, satisfied of her victory, knowing her mother was with her.

To her horror, the pieces moved by themselves, regenerating the mutilated bodies.

Down in the cages, Shinji was still screaming, he didn´t notice another presence in the huge room. Nor that the bakelite was liquefying around Unit-01.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. Resigned to his fate, he tiredly closed his eyes; waiting for the bullet that would end his life.

The smell of lavender surrounded him. It was Misato´s favorite. A tear rolled down his cheek, as he remembered his guardian. He wondered if he would see her again, at the other side.

"Get up, Shinji. Asuka needs you."

He turned around, looking for the person who had spoken. It was an strange sight, a woman with the face covered with a cracked porcelain mask, dressed with a white and green kimono.

The mask smiled tenderly, despite the blood tear painted on it. "Unit-01 is free. Go. Help Asuka."

Disbelieving, Shinji looked at the cage. The purple Evangelion really was free. Its huge hand extended next to him, inviting him to get on it. The boy was full with purpose once again. He would not run away anymore.

He jumped on the giant´s hand, and as he entered the plug, he looked for the strange woman. She wasn´t there anymore.

The white evangelions surrounded Unit-02 like vultures. Deciding it was time to attack, one of then threw the strange sword he carried at the red Eva. Reacting immediately, Asuke raised her A-T Field. The sword stopped in the air, just for a moment. It twisted impossibly, becoming a two pronged lance. It was a copy of the Lance of Longinus, capable of piercing an A-T Field like it was air. The lance continued its flight, right at the upper left eye of Eva-02. Asuka was paralyzed by incredulity, seeing the sharp point of the lance getting closer to her own face.

The prong never hit its target.

A purple hand got in the way, and was pierced through. Stopping the weapon at the point it bifurcated. The lance was a few millimeters away from making contact with Unit-02´s eye. For an eternal moment, lance and Evangelions stood still. Until Unit-01 grabbed the lance, extrating it carefully from its partner´s A-T Field.

Unit-02 was out of power, and the A-T Field collapsed. The only power left was in the plug. Life support and comms. A comm window oppened, "Are you OK, Asuka?"

Baka-Shinji. She had never been so glad to hear his whiny voice. "It was about time you got here, you Baka! Why did it take you so long?"

"S-sorry... Unit-01 was frozen in bakelite. I came as soon as I could." He almost choked a sob. "...but... Misato... ...I th-think she´s... dead, Asuka..." His eyes burned with sadness and fury.

Asuka had no answer for that. So she changed subject immediately, back to the current problem. "These things regenerate! I broke them to pieces and they are back up again. I lost my umbilical cable and I´m out of power."

Finally, the white Evangelions reacted, and attacked again. Unit-02 didn´t exist for them anymore. The arrival of Unit-01 had changed their priorities.

Armed with a Lance of Longinus, Shinji attacked too. After his desperation, having the chance to act, he was furious. All his life he had been stepped on and humilliated. Now he had the chance and the will to release all that pent-up anger on targets that actually deserved it.

Those who had witnessed the berserker fury of Unit-01 feared those episodes. The Angels Sachiel, Leliel, and Zeruel had been destroyed by that fury. Unit-01 went berzerk when Yui Ikari´s soul protected her son; and her anger fused with Unit-01 own fury. In that way, they were able to erase mountains from existence.

This time, the berserk was very human.

Shinji would protect the woman he loved at all costs. His fury was even greater and more destructive than her mother and Unit-01´s combined.

And, unlike Unit-02, he had no need for an umbilical cable.

Down, at Terminal Dogma, a gun had been fired. The body of Doctor Ritsuko Akagi lay on the cold metal floor.

Commander Gendo Ikari was not in the mood for more delays. His Escenario was about to finish. At his side, Rei Ayanami was torn by doubts, not knowing what to do when the time came.

Those doubts were to remain unaswered.

The lights went off. A cold will blowed around them. Incorporeal whisperings invaded the place. So weak that no words could be understood. A cold, greenish light illuminated the place.

Doctor Akagi sat up. Like a puppet. The blood stain that stained her chest was shrinking, as her blood returned to the wound that had killed her. The woman´s eyes were white, and from them, flowed two thins streams of white smoke.

Rei was paralyzed. Gendo reacted, shooting twice. The bullets stopped in the air, a few centimeters from Ritsuko´s head. Ritsuko spoke with a strange voice, while another stream of white smoke blowed from her mouth. "Wait for your turn, Commander." The bullets clattered on the floor.

Ikari pulled Rei by the hand, he was about to run when he heard a gurgling noise. Akagi was kneeling on the floor, shaking convulsively, vomiting a black, fibrous mass. The smoke from her eyes and mouth dissipated. She raised her head, looked at Rei, and whispered with her own voice, "...Forgive me..."

Anguished, Rei nodded. Akagi dropped limply to the floor, breathing deep.

Again, Ikari pulled Rei´s hand. They had to get to Lilith to start Third Impact. After one single step, he almost crashed onto a strange woman. The porcelain mask on her face looked angry with disapproval. Ikari would not tolerate any more delays, and shot twice at the intruder´s face. The mask exploded in tiny pieces.

There was nothing behind it. Only a mass of black hair.

The porcelain bits stopped, and went back into their places. Now, the mask looked severe. "It´s over, Comander. You won´t do any more harm. To anyone. Ever."

That voice, it was strangely familiar.

The Onryö´s hair came to life. In an instant, Commander Ikari was wrapped by it, raised on the air. The Onryö looked at Rei. "It will be better for you to go back up. Back to Central Dogma. Help Ritsuko. I have some _matters to discuss_ with... Commander Ikari."

Rei obeyed, the young bluenette helped the scientist to her feet. She seemed to be in shock, but unharmed. Both went to the lift. Once the doors closed, the Onryö´s empty eyes stared into the terrified eyes of Gendo Ikari. "Now, _Sir_. You will _explain everything_ to me. Let´s start with..." Deep in thought, the Onryö tapped the point of one claw on the mask that was her face. "...Shinji."

Two streams of smoke rose from the mask´s eyes, and like snakes, they moved to Gendo Ikari´s eyes.

There was a single scream. It lasted for way too long for a human throat.


	3. Unit-02 s Last Battle, Part One

**Unit-02´s Last Battle**

As Gendo Ikari´s body fell on his knees, the Onryö found herself standing on a desolate place; far away, she could see a great mountain, and on its top, a black throne. The sky was hidden by an infinite slab of obsidian, with blood red veins, tracing the Tree of Life. At her feet, a similar surface was the ground. She extended her senses, recognizing the Tree of Knowledge. Between both slabs, the air was tinged crimson.

It was a colossal duplicate of the Comander´s Lair.

Of course.

In front of her, the ground opened, and from it, houndreds of faceless soldiers came out, armed with rifles with bayonettes, daggers, axes, and other weapons, eager to turn her into bloody chunks.

From the throne, the voice of the Commander called. "Dispose of her, I have important things to do." The soldiers attacked without delay.

They shot their weapons, getting closer to her to use their blades. The Commander watched the scene, still as a statue, his eyes hidden behind the glare of his shades.

"Fool!" the Onryö yelled, her mask a portrait of wrath. "Hide behind your armies! Behind your manipulations! Behind your desk! It will be all for nothing!"

The bullets went right through the Onryö´s body, without even moving the silk of her kimono. The avatar of vengeance grew until she almost touched the black sky, and at a single gesture of hers, the ground erupted into flame, consuming bodies, clothes and weapons. Only blackened skeletons remained.

She walked three steps closer to the throne. A wall of solid granite got in her way, The Onryö breathed once, twice, and on the third breath a jet of fire surged from her throat, melting the stone like snow in a furnace.

She crossed the open hole in the wall; at the other side, an avalanche of vermin awaited her. Spiders, rats, scorpions, snake, centipedes.

On his black throne at the top of the mountain, Gendo Ikari watched. Even inside his own mind, he refused to show any human emotion on his face.

Without any hesitation, the Onryö walked on, her body and clothes turned to stone. Stings, fangs, and teeth bounced from her skin, harmless. However, there were so many creatures that their sheer number was slowing her down.

She stopped. Raising her hands to the sky, digging her claws deep into the obsidian slab. With inimaginable strenght, she pulled down an immense piece of rock, and dropped it onto herself. A noisome, greenish ichor seeped from under the rubble.

Gendo allowed himself a cruel smile, behind his steepled fingers. "Stupid." He whispered. He stood, ready to abandon this representation of his mind, and recover control over his body.

He felt somebody watching him. From the broken stone, several columns of smoke filtered up, gathering, reforming the Onryö´s body. The ghostly woman walked on, scratchting the fallen pieces of rock with her long claws, shooting sparks from them.

Ikari moved forward on his throne, the ground opened at the sides, and two copies of the seats the Evangelion pilots appeared; to the right, the seat was occupied by something that looked like a doll in the shape of Rei Ayanami, it had her features and plugsuit, but her face lacked a mouth, and her eyes were glassy, lost in the distance. At the other side, a doll representing Shinji Ikari, his eyes and mouth open in a mute scream of horror, his hands red with blood. The Commander grabbed the pilots´ heads, and his fingers dug deeply into the skulls. Both pilots shuddered, grabbing the control yokes. In front of the Onryö, two giant copies of Units 00 and 01 appeared. The colossi were armed with their ussual pallet rifles, and instantly, they released a hailstorm of bullets, big as cars.

The bullets impacted the Onryö´s titanic body, leabving behind huge holes. The exit wounds were even bigger. A rain of blood, gore, and bone pieces fell to the floor. The body fell limply to the ground, making the rubble bounce and clatter.

The Evangelion Units lowered their still smoking weapons. Ikari smiled, contently, steepling his fingers. Both pilots fell forward on their seats, like dropped marionettes.

Suddenly, both Evangelions turned around with an impossible agility, and their hands rose. Both biomechanoids had changed color. They were now white, with details in emerald green.

Unit-00 took the Ayanami doll, while Unit-01 took Shinji, lifting them from their seats. They held them high, to the helpless amazement of the Commander. With a thundering synchronized roar, both giants broke their jaw restraints, and, once free, slowly bit off the dolls´ heads.

"Great show," the Onryö´s mocking voice was heard, coming from nowhere. The ghostly woman appeared in fron of the suprised Commander. "I wonder, who taught you?", and raised her masks´ eyes higher and higher. "Ah, I see."

Ikari was about to speak, when he felt a jerking on his hands, he lost all control of his movements, and shaked spasmodically. Thick cords went through his hands and feet. With agonizing slowness, he raised his head, and, high in the sky, he saw a female hand playing a wooden cross. Higher still, the face that had dominated him for over sixteen years smiled cruelly at him.

Yui Ikari.

Helpless, he moaned. An intoxicating smell of lavender surrounded him.

"Now," said the Onryö, grabbing his head and forcing him to look at her, "Let´s see what do you keep in your heart." She stabbed a claw into his chest, making him scream in agony. With a wet crunching sound, she extracted a black mass, beating coldly, dripping pus. "Just as I thought. Rotten."

She put the heart back in his chest, and wiped her claw on the Commander´s jacket. "Disgusting."

She grabbed his head with both claws, opening it like a melon. Ikari screamed again. "Let´s see if there is something more interesting here, shall we?" and she started to dig in his brain.

Xxxx

Gendo Ikari´s soul broke under the Onryö´s assault, all the justifications he had wrapped himself with for ten years were crushed under his sins´ weight, revealed without any mercy.

The powerful, callous NERV Commander had been reduced to a trembling shadow of himself.

The Onryö was even more angry than when she only knew what was happening. Knowing the reason for all of it was so much worse. Instead of working to prevent Third Impact, NERV, under Gendo Ikari´s control and under SEELE´s orders, were working to cause it and take advantage in the name of their own ambitions.

She was about to send Ikari straight into the deepest circle of Hell, when she heard a desperate scream. "SHINJIII!"

There was no time to waste, the Onryö grabbed Ikari´s right hand, a green flame consumed the limb, and with it, Professor Katsuragi´s killer.

Any hope Gendo Ikari had to control the Human Instrumentalization to reunite with his wife turned into smoke along with his hand, and the Angel he had implanted on it; the First Angel, Adam.

The Onryö disappeared, saying five words that destroyed the last shred of conscious thought Gendo Ikari had after his defeat.

"We will talk later... Comander."

Ikari laid on the floor on Terminal Dogma, unconscious. For a long time, he laid under the indifferent eyes of Lilith, crucified at the other side of the enormous chamber.

Xxxx

On the surface, the fight had turned against Shinji. The nine Mass Prodution EVAs had crucified Unit-01 with their copies of the Lance of Longinus, forming a grotesk parody of the Tree of Life.

Third Impact was at hand.


	4. Unit-02 s Last Battle, Part Two

**Unit-02´s Last Battle, part Two**

Desperate, Asuka screamed as loud as she could, trying to spur Shinji back into action, but the boy was almost unconscious, in agony. The german pilot yanked the control yokes, as if that could reactivate Unit-02. She didn´t realize the was mimicking Shinji´s own actions during his combat versus Zeruel.

A strange image appeared in the LCL, it looked like a tangled mass of black hair. The young redhead was about to wave it away, when a porcelain mask appeared at the center of the mass. Its right side was covered in cracks, and a single blood tear rolling from the left eye. Somehow, a smell of lavender filled the plug, overpowering the LCL´s smell of blood.

´Just what I needed...´she thought, ´I´m hallucinating...´

The mask spoke, impossibly, the porcelain moved like the flesh of a real face. "Shinji needs help. Let me help you both."

She swallowed, that voice... there was something familiar in that voice... despite being cold as the grave, behind it was... Warmth? Fondness?

She had nothing to lose, and nodded. The mask smiled and dissolved into particles. A greenish light inundated the plug. The power counter, that a second before showed 0:00:00, now showed 8:88:88, just like if an umbilical cable was connected to the EVA´s back.

Hesitating a bit, she tried to command the EVA to raise a hand. The titanic biomechanoid obeyed. She could see the EVA´s hand mimic her own movements, but the armor had changed, instead of it´s usual red, orange and white colors, now it was white and green.

The Tree of Life rose more and more at each moment, floating away.

Furious, Asuka and Unit-02 ran towards the sinister tangle of bodies, and jumped. Hoping she could get to them. Her jump continued for far longer she had expected, and the young german pilot noticed a weird feeling at her back. Like a beating of wings.

xxxx

Down at Central Dogma, NERV´s staff could not believe their eyes, two wings had appeared at Unit-02´s back. The colossus was actually flying upwards, to meet the Tree of Life.

Kozo Fujutsuki whispered, "It can´t be!""

By his side, Rei and Ritsuko supported each other. A small smile appeared on Ayanami´s face, seeing that Unit-02´s wings were like a crane´s, white as the purest snow, "...They are not beaten yet..."

Xxxx

Asuka didn´t care to know how it was possible for Unit-02 to fly. Nor why it had changed colors. The only thing that mattered to her now was to rescue Shinji. She growled, and an incoherent battle scream preceded her attack on the grotesque Mass Production Evangelions. Those damned bastards had the unmitigated gall to get up after she and her beloved Unit-02 had finally had the best battle of their lifes.

At the last moment, Asuka remembered she had lost her Progressive Knife when Unit-02 had lost power, but she still felt the familiar weight of the weapon on her/its hand. Unit-02 closed its fist around the handle of a new knife, with a white blade and green handle.

´It will do,´ she thought, and in a single thrust, she cut one of the false Lances of Longinus in half. A white Evangelion dropped from its place on the Tree of Life, unfurled its wings, and attacked.

The monstruous EVA seemed to smile in anticipation.

Asuka put some distance. Once again, she felt a tranquilizing presence around her.

No. Not one presence.

There were two.

Unit-08 swerved before Asuka could close the distance and use the Prog Knife. For a split second, the redhead wished she had her Progressive Halberd again, like the one she had used during her impulsive first attack against Israfel.

The second presence seemed to nod, and the Prog Knife changed shape, imitating perfectly the desired weapon. Suddenly, Unit-08 was no longer out of reach. With both hands, Unit-02 stroke, digging the point of the blade into her enemy´s throat. A shower of purple blood erupted from Unit-08´s neck, and it tried to strike back.

It really had no chance.

A whispering at the back of her mind guided Asuka´s strike. The EVA´s left hand grabbed the almost loose head of its enemy, while the other ripped away the Prog Halberd, striking again at the body, right through the core.

The white Evangelion fell to ground, a brief tsunami in the lake was the only signal of its death.

"Hurry, Asuka!" yelled the porcelain mask´s voice, "They will cause Third Impact!"

The hideous Tree of Life rose still, an unholy light surrounded Unit-01.

Beating its wings, Unit-02 flew faster and faster. Asuka, in her desperation, had conceived a plan.

xxxx

In their holographic rooms, SEELE´s members watched the events.

"What is the meaning if this? The Dead Sea Scroll didn´t indicate anything like this."

"No, but our understanding of them is far from perfect."

"How it´s Unit-02 still functioning? It had no power left! Those wings and the change in color... they can´t be spontaneous."

"That´s irrelevant; the Escenario is at risk. We have no more resources at the area. The JSSDF is silent, and the satellites show that all vehicles are immobile."

"We can only wait. If two more MP EVAs fall, the rest won´t be able to mantain the Tree of Life formation, and the Human Instrumentalization will fail."

"Then, the immediate priority must be EVA-02´s destruction. Have two EVAs fly away with Unit-01. The rest must destroy Unit-02"

"If necessary, we can build more EVAs to continue the Red Earth Ceremony. Bring Unit-01 to a safe place. The pilot´s will can be broken more than once, and so, secure his participation."

Xxxx

Before she could tackle Unit-01 away from the Tree, Asuka saw the white Evas undo the grotesque sculpture, two of them grabbed Unit-01, and, unfurling their wings, flew away.

"Cowards!" Asuka´s fury grew even more. She threw her Prog Halberd towards the fleeing EVAs, right between the flock flying towards her. One tried to stop the weapon and procet it´s companions. It simply passed through it´s fingers, becoming a Lance of Longinus as it closed on its target.

It struck, nailing the Dummy Plug first, and then the core. The monster fell limply, it´s mate couldn´t keep flying with Unit-01´s weight. All it could do was to slow the fall.

A new weapon appeared in Unit-02´s hands, an elegant Progressive Naginata, with a white shaft and blade, and a tuft of green feathers. It was the weapon of a lady, combining sword and spear. She made it twirl, testing its weight and balance.

It was perfect.

As a dervish, she threw herself at her enemies; cutting, hacking, and slashing their bodies; blocking and parrying their attacks. The first battle against the nine MP EVAs had been a brutal slaughter. This time, Asuka was in a war trance, akin to a berzerk fury, but under her total control.

Unit-02 spun like a tornado, flying up and down on white wings. A lethal dance, beautiful and brutal, like Asuka herself.

The false Lances of Longinus were dodged or parried. Once, the naginata guided one to strike at another white EVA´s core.

On the ground, Unit-10 dragged Unit-01 away from the battle.

Xxxx

At Central Dogma Kozo Fujutsuki had recovered from the last few minute´s surprises, and after a quick check of resources, he started to bark orders.

"Lieutenant Aoba, reestablish communications with the EVAs! Lieutenant Ibuki, check the pilot´s life signals! Lieutenant Hyuga, check if there are any cannons we can use!"

The three bridge bunnies obeyed instantly.

He turned to face Rei and Ritsuko. "We will talk later, I want to know what happened down there." He shot a significant look at the techs, that defriefing would have to be private. Both knew that.

"Sir! We have signal from both Units!"

"On speakers, now!"

Aoba obeyed, and a stream of german curses came out. Fujutsuki smiled. "What about Unit-01?"

"Shinji seems to be unconscious, Sir." Maya added. "His life signals are weak but estable. He has wounds at hands and feet. Sympathic lesions because if his synchronization with Unit-01 when it was... when it was crucified. Asuka´s signals are very strong, pulse and blood pressure are high, but also estable."

Hyuga slammed his fist on the desk, "Sir! All cannons were destroyed or are off-line!"

"I see. Lieutenant Ibuki, can we wake Shinji up?"

"Reduce the power of the defibrilator to 5%, that sould be enough." Doctor Akagi instructed

"Do it, Lieutenant."

Xxxx

A painful shock made way into his awareness.

"Shinji!"

Nebulously, he recognized his own name.

"Shinji!"

"...gnnnjj..."

"Shinji, wake up!"

"...lieutenant... Ibuki..." he raised a hand to his head. And suffered a little moment of panic as he saw the trail of blood left in the LCL.

"Are you OK?"

Shinji almost laughed bitter, but he stopped in time. "...Everything hurts..."

"You were wounded when they got you. Asuka rescued you."

Forgeting about the pain, Shinji´s eyes shot open instantly. "Asuka! Where is she?"

Fujutsuki´s voice answered, "She´s fighting the Evangelions that captured you. One of them is dragging Unit-01 away from the battle. You have to go back. I don´t know what are they planning to do with you and Unit-01," he lied, "but it can´t be good."

Shinji willed EVA-01 to move its head, looking for Unit-02. He found it on the air. Somehow, Unit-02 had sprouted wings, and changed color. It was a bit hard to tell it apart from the mass of white EVAs, but her fighting style was unique.

She was fighting and winning, once again.

This gave him a little respite. He turned back to his own problems. Unit-01 was wuite damaged, his own wounds were proof enough of that, but it could still fight.

He grabbed the control yokes, pouring all his will on moving Unit-01. He forgot about his pain, his doubts and his sadness. He allowed himself to get lost in his determination.

Unit-01´s eyes lit up. Shinji roared, and Unit-01 roared with him. The jaw restraints broke.

Berzerker.


	5. Unit-02's Last Battle, Part Three

**Unit-02´s Last Battle, Part Three**

Unit-10 dragged its prey by the ankle, it was willing to walk all the way back to its base. It would not. Unit-01 suddenly turned on it, gripping Unit-10´s wrist with unheard force.

The Berzerker had been left behind. Shinji´s fury had become something else, a cold, controlled fury. Unit-01´s animal fury was powerful, but uncontrolable. Shinji´s own fury had been alike. But now, he had absolute control of his/its/their actions.

A new factor entered into the fray. EVA, core and pilot were one single being. Beyond 100% synch, even beyond the dreaded 400% threshold. Behind Unit-01´s helmet, the Evangelion´s face changed, It was now a copy of Shinji´s angry face.

Unit-10´s left arm blew up like it had been detonated from the inside. The white EVA fell down, it recovered quickly, only to find its enemy was already standing up behind it. Had anyone looked at Unit-01´s face, they could had sworn it was smiling like a shark. A lightning fast move later, their teeth had embedded into Unit-10´s throat.

As the white Eva struggled to free itself. Shinji knifed his hand into his enemy´s guts, looking for the Dummy Plug.

He found it.

The metal resisted for a split second before giving in.

Evangelion Unit-10 died in an instant.

xxxx

"Synchronization at 500%! Life Signals from the pilot are estable! They... they are regenerating! Both Unit-01 and Shinji!"

"It can´t be!"

xxxx

"It can´t be!" Lorenz Kiehl stood up, knocking down his chair. His plans to force human evolution becoming ashes in his face.

The rest of SEELE´s member understood it too. But they remained seated. There would be no Instrumentalization.

All they could do was to try and find a way to capitalize on the events. It would not be the first time SEELE or its members snatched some victory from the jaws of defeat.

xxxx

Up in the sky, Unit-02 was still surrounded by the other MP EVAs, not so many as a minute before, but still at a disadvantage. Through the comms, Shinji´s voice yelling, "Asuka! Down!". She closed the white wings, and dropped down. Over her, a white, mangled mass crashed into the flock. Knocking down two MPEs to the ground.

Unit-01 awaited for his partner, ready to fight. Unit-02 landed with amazing grace for something of its size. Both Evas nodded at each other, awaiting for their enemies to fight. They didn´t oblige. The white Evangelions turned tail and flew back to wherever they had come from.

The battle had ended.

Two comm´s windows opened in the plugs.

"You were... you were fantastic."

"Did you expect anything less, Third Child?"

"No, it was just as I expected from the Great Asuka Langley Soryu."

"So, what will you do now that you are lost your kill record?"

Eva and pilot shrugged. "A feast for the new champion. You deserve it."

"It´s a good start, Shinji, you fought well."

"You fought so much better."

A beautiful, sincere smile lighted Asuka´s face, she felt she was about to blush, and closed her comms.

The porcelain mask reappeared. "I must go now, Asuka. Unit-02 will be just like it was. NERV will have to pick it up. But there´s somebody here who wants to talk with you, and say goodbye."

Over Asuka, an image appeared, it was a woman with flowing, long, blond hair. She smiled at her, dressed with a plug suit. Asuka´s heart skipped a beat.

"Mama?"

Asuka´s tears dissipated in the LCL as soon as they appeared.

"My beautiful baby. Mama is so proud of you."

Xxxx

In Unit-01´s plug, Shinji´s smile vanished in an instant. Finally, he let his tears flow. Relief for Asuka, grief for Misato. He cried for a long while, until he was at last, able to control his emotions.

He felt both empty and purified

xxxx

Fujutsuki dropped on a chair. "I think it´s over, at least for now..." he allowed himself a moment to gather his thoughts.

"I want all personal reporting at once, a list of casualties, medical staff with armed scorts to check on the wounded. I want to know how many and who of us survived."

xxxx

Down at Terminal Dogma, a small silhouette stared at the crucified shape of Lilith. Floating before her face, her head hung sadly. "You cannot stay here. Your very existance threatens this whole world. I am sorry."

Lilith nodded. Closed her seven eyes, and vanished at a gesture from the small figure.

xxxx

Major Katsuragi stumbled into Central Dogma. She clutched an improvised bandage, soaked in blood, against her belly. She fell on her knees. Ritsuko Akagi ran to her friend, quickly checked her pulse and her wound. "Hyuga! Aoba! Help me! We have to get her to the hospital, right now!" She held Misato´s hand. "Hang on, please!"

Misato was terribly pale, sweat covered her forehead. Her mouth opened and closed. She grabbed Ritsuko, groaning "Commander... Ikari... Terminal Do... Dogma..."

"Don´t try to speak." Misato nodded, grinding her teeth. Rei kneeled aside, and whispered in her ear. "Shinji and Asuka are safe. They are in no danger, they will be picked up soon."

Misato nodded again. Her wounds actually hurt. She had expended a lot of enery stabilizing the wounded. At least there would be time to help them. Restoring her own body had been harder, not only from the wounds that had killed her, but also the ones she had received at her return to the world. She had only kept two injuries, from which her body could later recover.

While both lieutenants carried her on a stratcher to the hospital, she promised herself that the ones responsible of all this would pay.

They would pay dearly

Oh, yes, they _will_ pay.

She had seen them in Gendo Ikari´s memories. She knew their stench, and she could find them anywhere in the world.

But first, she wanted to hold her children.

xxxx

"She´s alive?"

"Yes, Shinji. She´s alive, but gravely wounded. She´s on her way to the hospital." Unit-01 ran back to the Geo-Front. It only stopped to pick up Unit-02, despite Asuka´s protests. Shinji paid no attention to them.

Back at the cages, Shinji ran straight to the hospital, still dripping LCL. Asuka joined him there. She was strangely quiet. Like the raging firestorm in her heart had, not died, but quieted somehow.

Rei Ayanami and Professor Fujutsuki arrived some time later. Fujutsuki had to go back to Central Dogma once he was told Misato was on the O.R. He signaled at two guards to go with him.

The three pilots waited in silence, until Dr. Akagi came out the O.R.

She leaned on a wall for support, she was tired to the bone.

"Misato is out of danger. They are moving her to the ICU, but she shoud be fine." She sighed.

Xxxx

While Misato was in surgery, Professor Fujutsuki and two guards had gone down to Terminal Dogma. While the guards dragged the unconscious, maimed Commander to the brig, Fujutsuki had stayed behind a moment, surprised at the sight of the empty red cross Lilith had been nailed to. He sighed in relief. Without Lilith and Adam, Third Impact would not happen. He hurried up after the guards.

Fujutsuki had seen death to the eyes thanks to his former pupil´s actions, he had no intention to do so again. He would not risk him having a back-up plan.

xxxx

Had he not being trembling, holding his knees at a corner of his cell, Gendo Ikari would probably appreciate the irony of being held prisoner at the same cell his son had occupied some months before.

The former Commander was a broken man. He had no will left for anything. Another irony, he had turned into what he had planned his own son to become.

Suddenly, Gendo Ikari lifted his head, he looked around him, despite the darkness. There was something... no, there was someone there with him. He could feel the presence in the dark.

A terryfiyng smell surrounded him.

Lavender.

 _ **She was back.**_

He huddled at his corner. Barely daring to breathe.

"Hello, Commander." The porcelain mask appeared in front of him, glowing softly. He almost screamed.

"I came to apologize. Last time we met I was in a bit of a hurry, and we couldn´t finish our..." the mask changed expression abruptly, like it had been replaced by another in a split second. Now its features had an anticipating look. "...talk."

Gendo Ikari felt a scratch on his cheek, so delicate it didn´t break the skin, but that soft touch insinuated that at a whim of her owner, that claw was more than capable of gutting him in an instant.

"So, now that we have time, let´s talk, okay?"

In the darkness, Ikari nodded, his eyes bulging with terror, and holding the stump of his right arm.

"Let´s talk, about what you will say in a few days." The mask now looked at him sternly. "You will tell the truth. Absolutely everything. Names, dates, contacts, numbers, reasons, places. Everything. Not a single lie, not a single omission. Everything needed to send SEELE to the deepest and darkest pit of Hell. And you with them. Undestood?"

Ikari nodded again.

"And you will explain, in glorious detail, how you deceived, blackmailed, and generally manipulated all the staff at NERV Japan. You will exculpate everybody, especially the pilots. You will take full responsablility."

Ikari tried to swallow, but his mouth was dry as a desert.

The Onryö waited. Finally, one more nod.

A claw under his chin forced him to raise his head. His eyes were at no more than five centimeters from the empty eyes of the porcelain mask. In the deep dark, he saw two little dots of light, minuscule, shining with the promise of a retribution that would be fast, terrible, and above everything else, very long.

The mask pulled away slowly, until it disappeared in the darkness.

Long minutes passed, while Gendo Ikari´s breathing went back to normal. He buried his face in his arms.

"One more thing." The former Commander almost jumped. "You are the most pathetic excuse for a father to ever walk the Earth. You deserve no contact with your son. You will renounce any legal recourse over him, and transfer him to the permanent custody of his current guardian if he so desires. And the same goes for Ayanami. Is that clear?"

Finally, Gendo found his voice, he croaked a hesitant "...yes..."

The mask disappeared. It didn´t come back.

The man who the day before had been the most powerful man in Japan sobbed in the darkness, trembling, sitting on a pool of slowly cooling liquid.


	6. The Calm After the Storm

**The Calm After the Storm**

Shinji was sleeping, lying on the couch closest to Misato´s room at the hospital. The young pilot had barely eaten, worried about his guardian. Before retiring to a room in the Geo-Front, Rei Ayanami had covered him with a blanket.

Had he been awake, he might have felt a cold breeze. But he was too far gone into his bad dreams.

Two slim streams of smoke had come out from Misato Katsuragi´s closed eyes. Her body was deep in an induced coma, while she recovered from her wounds. But her soul was perfectly awake, and she had matters to attend to.

The smoke seemed to crawl on the floor, traveling through halls and rooms.

No one noticed it.

The smoke stopped at a door. The apartment belonged to Professor Kozo Fujutsuki, Acting Commander of NERV. The smoke slid under the door, in absolute silence. The place was warm, clean and even welcoming. The walls were full of pictures, diplomas, and even a few academic awards. Among the pictures, there was one Shinji Ikari would have given his right hand to have. It was from happier times, a picture taken before Second Impact, before Gendo Rokubingi entered the lives of Kozo Fujutsuki and Yui Ikari. It showed the professor and his best three students. Yui occupied the honor place at the table. They had gone to dinner, to celebrate the end of the school year.

Thinking, the Onryö materialized. Maybe... no, not now; first things first.

She floated towards the bedroom. She ghosted through the door, silent. The old professor was sitting on the bed, staring at the floor, holding loosely a glass half-full of sake. A mostly full bottle at the small table next to the bed.

"Good night, Professor." The Onryö´s soft voice made the man jump. The glass slid from his fingers, by some small miracle, it didn´t breat on the floor. "What? Oh... it is you. My apologies, I don´t know who you are. But I was waiting for you."

The Onryö´s hair extended like a halo around her head, like a peacock´s tail made of night and stars glowing coldly. "I am revenge, professor. The souls of the dead claim for justice; I am both revenge and justice. I am also the one who saved your life at Central Dogma. I am the Onryö, and I have come to judge you."

Fujutsuki picked up the glass, and carefully, put it on the table. "I understand. I expect no indulgence from you." He sighed, tired to the core.

The Onryö turned into smoke once more, and the two streams entered the eyes of the old professor.

* * *

The Onryö and Professor Fujutsuki walked through the memory of a park. There was no need to force the Acting Commander´s soul. In some way, he was eager to be judged. But feeling like a young man again inside his own memories had been a nice surprise.

They watched Yui Ikari picking up Shinji from his baby carriage, talking to her professor. In some way, that was when she had started to lose her way.

They listened to their talk.

Once that memory vanished, they watched his first encounter with Gendo Rokubungi, the research that led to his discovery of SEELE, the threats against his life, the moment he saw no other way than helping Gendo make his plans.

The contact experiment that had killed Yui.

Gendo´s change.

Fujutsuki´s attempts to convince him to not abandon Shinji, or at least send him to a keeper who didn´t treat him like an annoyance, but as a person.

The holographic meetings with SEELE.

Everything until the siege at NERV, and his own actions.

Everything was shown to the Onryö. Actions, emotions, reasons. Nothing was hidden from her. Not even Fujutsuki´s unrequited feelings for Yui Ikari.

"I have seen enough."

Fujutsuki opened his eyes, still sitting on his bed. He barely dared to raise his eyes; hoping for a death, if not painless, at least fast.

The Onryö kneeled before him. From the sleeves of her kimono, two long skeletal claws came; they shrank, turning into two delicate hands. With a forgiving smile on her mask, the Onryö caressed his cheeks.

"Your efforts weren´t enough, but they were sincere. Your life is still yours. However, you are so tainted, your fate is Hell."

Fujutsuki sighed, resigned. He nodded gravely.

The Onryö made him raise his head. "You can still change your fate, Professor. Protect the innocent, defend those who have been deceived. Cut the strings of the marionettes and grant them freedom."

Fujutsuki set his jaw. He took the Onryö´s hands and nodded again. "Thank you."

The Onryö vanished, leaving behind a soft lavender fragance.

* * *

"You are healing nicely, Misato. About ten days more, and I´ll be releasing you to go home."

"I wish I could get out before that, Rits. The boredom is killing me."

Ritsuko sighed deeply, and left her clipbpard on the little sliding table, next to the plates that had contained Misato´s breakfast. At the moment, the pilots were at Misato´s apartment, waiting for visiting hours; so Ritsuko had a little while to talk sincerely. She wished to light up a cigarette as much as Misato wanted a beer, but that would have to wait.

She hesitated, "Misato, I need to talk to you, seriously talk."

Misato settled back on the bed, careful not to tense the stitches. "Listen, I don´t know what will happen to me when the investigation ends; I´ll probably go to jail for everything I did. I allowed myself to be deceived by Ge... by the Commander. I did horrible things believing I would earn his love. God! I was helping him to kill the world!"

Misato took her hand, and nodded to encourage her to go on. "That bastard didn´t deserve you. Not you, nor Shinji, nor Rei."

Ritsuko barely could swallow. "No." A tear rolled down her cheek, over the mole under her left eye. "At the end, he just put me aside the first chance he had. He looked me in the eye and shot me. I think I died, Misato. I know you won´t believe me, but I know it was real. I talked with Rei, and she confirms it. She can´t even dream..." she raised her eyes, and saw acceptance in Misato´s face.

"I saw her too, Ritsuko. A ghostly woman, with a white mask and a kimono."

Akagi inhaled sharply. "I don´t know who she is, or where did she come from; but if it wasn´t for her, we all would be dead, or worse." She bit her lip. "She brought me back, she gave me a second chance to right my mistakes. Tomorrow, I will testify before a UN comitee. I will tell them everything. Probably I will be there for several days; maybe up to a month; that´s supposing they don´t lock me up. I wanted you to know what I´ll do. If I don´t come back, please, take care of Rei. I... I hurt her because of my stupid jealousy." Her hands trembled.

"Listen, Rits. I know a pair of guys who could help you. They are lawyers, their specialty is international law; and they owe me a big one. Give me pen and paper, and I´ll give you their contact info; tell them I sent you. Give them a phone number to contact me." Akagi did so.

* * *

That week was a balm for Major Katsuragi´s soul. Dr. Akagi finally autorized that one of the pilots could stay with her at night. She had long talks with Asuka, Rei and Shini. Although her talks with Rei were very one-sided, they finally got to know each other as persons. Asuka had quieted down a bit. But her fire was still there. She had won her last battle, she said. She had finally grown up.

Shinji was both glad and fearful of talking. He also seemed terribly fatigued.

Getting him to talk about it took several days.

Shinji had nightmares every time he went to sleep. Reviving the moment Misato had been shot, knowing she would die. Misato tried to convince him to take the sleeping pills Akagi had suggested, they were mild enough he was on no danger of addiction or overdose; but the boy seemed intent on punishing himself for his weakness.

By the fourth day, Misato waited until Shinji fell asleep, holding her hand like a drowning man would hold on to a plank of wook. Some time later, the nightmare began.

Two streams of smoke disappeared behind Shinji´s eyelids.

Inside, Misato took the Onryö´s form, a warm smile on her mask.

She was inside NERV, near the place she had been murdered. At the end of the hall, she saw Shinji and his memory of Misato. She saw her own death, and shuddered; she turned to smoke, and followed the elevator.

A few seconds and an eternity later, Shinki was on his knees at the EVA-01´s cage, sobbing bitterly, knowing that the woman who had been almost a mother to him was dead because of him.

Misato´s dead body appeared on his arms. The boy held it closely, rocking back and forth.

The Onryö knelt beside him. She held his head on her hand, making him raise his eyes. His face was covered by his tears. "I am here, Shinji. She will live."

She took the hands of her double, and both glowed softly. ´Misato´ shuddered, inhaling a lungful of air and opening her eyes. Shinji held her tighter, sighing his relief and joy.

The Onryö knew that was a short term relief; and left a little piece of her soul in the boy´s mind. A discreet guardian for his dreams.

There would be nightmares, yes, but they wouldn´t eat him alive anymore.

* * *

 **A week after the Battle at NERV  
An unnamed island in the Pacific Ocean. SEELE´s Last Reduct;  
Meeting Room, 800m Underground**

"We´ll have to grease many palms before we can return."

"It doesn´t matter. Nothing matters anymore. The world will be still tainted by Mankind´s sins."

"We have to start the contingency plan."

"That will take years." A drop of water fell on SEELE-05´s hand. He looked up, trying to find where was the drip. He didn´t see anything.

"More the reason to start immediately. Who do we have in the English Parliament?"

"Johnson and O´Reilly. Both ruthless, greedy and ambitious bastards."

"Greed and ambition. Good. That means we can manipulate them better."

The meeting went on for two more hours. Frequently, a drop would fall over a SEELE member or his desk. Silently, all of them thought the builders of the meeting room would have to die for their shoddy work.

By the end of the meeting, a shallow pool of water covered the floor, ruining their custom-made shoes.

Lorenz Kiehl slid his card on the electronic reader. A buzz was heard, but the door remained closed. He slid the card again, the door remained closed.

The lights flickered.

"Stupid... They can´t do anything right." He whispered, first drips, then the reader, now the lights.

SEELE-05 tried with his own card. Nothing, the water level was noticeably higher.

"Oh, I think you have more important matters to worry about."

They all turned towards that voice. A man stood at the other side of the room. There was no way he could have been there during the meeting. Behind him, the walls were solid rock, and the air vents were too narrow for a human being.

He was in a deep shadow, a light behind him illuminated the wall intermitently, silhouetting his body. He raised his hands, and as he lighted his cigarette, the flame revealed his face. They all recognized him. Ryoji Kaji. Their mole at NERV. The bell that didn´t ring.

Kaji exhaled a cloud of smoke. "I´m here to collect your debt." The lights flickered again. One step. "I have three billion," a second step, displacing a small wave on the water. "four hundred and seven million," another step, the water turned as red as blood under his feet, "five hundred and twenty five thousand," the metallic smell of blood was overwhelming, "two hundred and thirty two debts to collect." He stopped. The red water still rising around him.

"How did he survive? We sent our best assasin after him!" SEELE-06 hissed at SEELE-04.

Kaji glared at him. "Plus one."

The conspirators had their guns at hand, pointing them at Kaji. He took another lungful of smoke, not scared at all. "Plus another three hundred and seventy two you added last week." The water was now at waist level.

Lorenz Kiehl had problems to point his gun. Somehow, the optic sensors that had replaced his eyes long ago, were unable to pinpoint the distance. The man seemed to be at a distance of 20 meters, at arms lenght, and over a thousand kilometers away.

The agent´s next words were drowned by the roar of guns.

The body fell to the water. The SEELE members waded closer, carefully, still pointing their guns. The body floated, face down; somehow, he was at the center of a tangled mass of black hair.

SEELE-08 poked at the body with his gun. There was nothing there, only clothes. A chill went up and down his back.

A moment of darkness, a stiffled scream. The lights came back for a few seconds. Next to the door, SEELE-10 was held on the air by long strands of black hair. Under him, the owner of that hair caressed his cheek with the point of a long, skeletal claw, drawing a single drop of blood. "Nice shooting. But you can´t kill the dead."

She turned her face to them. It was a mask, its cracked porcelain features twisted in a snarl of contempt. "My turn." Her white kimono flapped under a cold breeze. Her body began to rise, floating above the water.

The hair wrapping SEELE-10´s body squeezed him tightly. Around his ankles, a single hair tightened itself around the joint.

The men were paralized. From SEELE-10´s throat came a strangulated whimper, that turned into a scream when the hair cut through his ankles. His feet fell to the water. For the next thirty seconds, the process repeated, going up a few centimeters at a time. SEELE-10 was cut to pieces in front of them. The screams stopped when his lungs were cut from his body, but his terryfied eyes showed that he was still alive when his head was cut to slices no more than two millimeters thick.

The pieces were swallowed by the water, with a sinister gurgling sound.

The lights went off.

When they came back on, there was no trace of the woman, or of Ryoji Kaji. Not even water. The only proof of the events was the mutilated remains of SEELE-10´s body.

The men stood in silence for several minutes.

A buzz startled them. The door opened, inviting the to exit the room.

* * *

The remoteness of the island had been the main reason SEELE had chosen it as their last fortress. They had erased any trace of its existance from the maps. It had taken years to ensure it was not recorded anywhere, and to hide it from any satelital maps.

But now, it was not a refuge anymore. It had become a prison.

They had arrived on board of planes, ships, and even a submarine. All had been carefully destroyed. Motors in ruins, seals torn off, navigational systems smashed.

They had no means to leave the island.

The small army of mercenaries they had hired had disappeared. All that was left were clothes that smelled of ashes and blood, and little mounds of stinking dust.

The most powerful men in the world, who had guided events towards an artificial apocalypse, were now prisoners in their own fortress. Without anybody to obey their orders.

They were alone.

Alone with a monster.


	7. Moving On, Part One

**Moving On; Part One**

After seeing their wrecked vehicles, the group of SEELE members went to the Communications Room. The chamber was equipped with the best and most expensive comm equipment money could buy, or have it made. SEELE-04, a thin, almost skeletal man, casted down the clothes remaining on a chair, and dusted it with a polishing cloth someone had left on a table before sitting down.

One by one, he clicked on all the monitors. He pushed down a series of buttons. Satisfied with the activation sequence, he tapped his password on a keyboard. It was the key to his personal base. He put a set of earphones on; a heavy duty set, that covered his ears completely. The image on the monitors changed. It was the SEELE sigil, a copy of Lilith's mask, with a snake around an apple, containing a quote in german 'Überm sternenzeh richter Gott. Wie wir gerichtet'. Its meaning close to "We Judge, as God judges from the Heavens."

While they waited for an answer from the staff at the base, the image dissolved in static for a few seconds. Then it came back. A prompt for a second password appeared. As SEELE-04 tapped the sequence, instead of the asterisks that should have replaced numbers and letters, tiny skulls appeared in their place. SEELE-07 noticed it, but before he could do or say anything, SEELE-04 had finished his input. Just as he hit the Enter key, he screamed. The others stepped back hurriedly. The man was violently convulsing, trying to rip the earphones away. He was crying blood tears.

With a last convulsion and a long, desperate scream, he fell to the ground. His hands were shaking incontrollably. His eyes, wide open and completely red, were not focused on anything in the room. After long minutes of unending agony, SEELE-04 died.

Finally, SEELE-02, a heavy set man, gathered his courage and kneeled near his co-conspirator. He removed the earphones from the cadaver's head. A disgusting, viscous noise filled the room. Long black worms tried to hide into the leather, leaving behind traces of blood and nerve tissue. Sickened, he dropped the earphones.

SEELE-07 kicked the earphones away, to the other side of the room. They broke in pieces against the wall. There was nothing in them, just electronics, leather, and foam. There was not even a drop of blood.

The skin around SEELE-04's ears had sunk noticeably, as if behind it there was no bone at all.

The men looked at each other, trying to hold on to their self control. They were all scared out of their wits, but damned if they would admit it in fron of the others.

A soft voice from the speakers jolted them out of their paralysis. A woman's voice, full of mockery and contempt. "Sorry, this caller has been terminated. Try again later, please. If you dare."

From the monitors, the image of the Onryö smiled wickedly for a couple of seconds. A crack apeared on the main screen, but her image remained.

They finally ran away.

After they were out, all the monitors exploded in a deadly shower of glass shards.

* * *

Prisoners on their oown island, SEELE's Inner Circle had no way to know the effects Gendo Ikari's confessions would cause on the world at large during the following weeks and months. The highest levels of the Japanese government turned against their own agents, and against themselves too. Later on, the UN did the same. The former Commander of NERV had been the target of several assassination attempts, but he had the improbable protection of a supernatural agent; the Onryö was very interested on keeping him alive to testify; the assassins sent after him simply dissapeared before acting, or turned against their handlers.

And to ensure chaos in the enemies' houses, she managed to leak some of the most damaging data to the internet. A wave of murders and suicides around the world was SEELE's legacy. Ironically, the efforts from the lower levels of SEELE, trying to protect their secrets, had resulted on an unprecedented house cleaning in the governments of the whole world.

The few survivors of the secret cabal would hide in the deepest holes they could find.

* * *

Back in the island. The Inner Circle members were in a somber mood. No one spoke a word for a long time, lost in their thoughts, especulating about the woman in the white kimono. _Who was she?_ More important, _What was she?_ And the most important question of all, _What does she want, in the end?_

Had she simply wanted them dead, she could have done it so from the beginning. She could have turned them into dust like she did the guards. She had seemed to find a sick pleasure in mocken them at the meeting hall and the comms room.

The answer was obvious. She was playing with them. Probably using some hallucigenic. Mere parlor tricks. And that meant she had to be hiding somewhere in the island.

Somehow, she must have bought their mercenaries, who surely had helped her to sabotage the vehicles. A single human being could not do that much damage in a few hours.

They decided to look for her, spliting into two groups. All if them armed with guns, and knifes from the kitchen as back-up weapons.

All that day and part of the night, they looked for her. They didn't find a single trace.

* * *

 **Next day  
NERV's Hospital**

"So, Shinji," asked Misato, "What are your plans now?"

The boy slumped on his chair. "I don't know... I... I hadn't thought about it..."

Misato held his hand. "Do you... want to go... back?"

"No. I have friends here. Despite everything, I want to stay, but I guess with my Father in jail, I'll have to go somewhere else." His voice cracked a little.

"I wold like you to stay, Shinji." For once, there was no teasing in her voice. "My apartment would be too quiet without you and Asuka."

"Well, I guess you are still my legal guardian, at least for a while."

"No, not as your guardian. You deserve a family. I would like to be that family."

Shinji looked at her, not daring to think what could those words mean. "Mi-Misato..?"

"I want to adopt you. Since ...Kaji ... Since Kaji died... I... I realized how alone I really am." She was holding back the tears as much as she could.

"But..."

"If you want to."

Shinji's eyes were glassy for a moment. Then he whispered.

"...Family?"

"Yes. A little and strange family, but ours." She ruffled Shinji's hair.

"...I... "

"Think about it for a while, please. I know I'm not exactly a motherly figure. But I want to try."

"YES!" And Shinji hugged her carefully. Crying softly on her shoulder.

A few minutes later, both were crying openly.

* * *

 **Later, that Night  
SEELE's Island**

The stress of the last hours had been too much for SEELE-02, and man who might, diplomatically, be called "Heavy set".

His weight didn't allow him much exercise, and walking around the island was very low on his list of Things to Do.

All his body hurt. Muscles he didn't even knew he had, pulsed painfully. He went to his personal suite. He prepared a hot bath, and after discarding his clothes, he went in, trying to relax.

Some stress dissipated, still he wished he had brought along his personal masseusse.

He stepped out the bath, dripping water over the polished marble. He took a big towel, and started to dry himself.

He focused on the little they knew about the Ghost, as they had began to call the mysterious woman.

He wrapped himself in the towel, and went to the bedroom. As he crossed the treshold, he realized he was still dripping water. He couldn't have been that wet.

From the corner of his eye, he saw his reflection on the mirror. He wasn't alone.

There was a female's shadow on the wall behind him. It looked like a shadow puppet. He turned around quickly. There was no one else in the bedroom, buit the shadow was still there.

His blood froze on his veins as he realized the shadow had started to show color. The white porcelain mask smiled evilly. Sweat beaded on SEELE-02's forehead. Fat drops fell to the floor. SEELE-02 went a step back. The Onryö's shoulders began to shake in a silent laugh. His mouth was completely dry.

Another step back. He felt a pool of water under his foot. Distantly, he wondered where had so much water come from.

Far away, he heard a female's laughter. Cold, hard, full of mockery, anger and contempt.

The man raised a hand to his throath, it was so parched it burned. His hand shook. He felt weak under the mocking eyes of that animated shadow. His legs buckled and he fell on his knees, panting. He felt dizzy

He fell, barely able to stop his fall with a hand. Lowering his eyes, he finally noticed the loose skin hanging from his bones, cracked and grey. Immediatly, his hand was surrounded by a little pool. He tried to speak, to beg for mercy. A dry croak was the only sound to come from his dry, cracked lips.

The laughter war now closer. It sounded so crystal-like. She was laughing and laughing and laughing.

The next day, his companions found his body. Mummyfied, with a hand around his throat and the other still holding his weight.

Surrounded by a big pool of water

* * *

 **Next day  
NERV's Hospital.**

"Misato, I need you to sign this." Asuka extended a slip of paper to Misato.

"Uh? What's this?"

"A permission slip. I need to go out the city for a couple of days. I want to check personally on Hikari and her family; they are coming back to Tokyo-3. I want to bring them back with me. I don't trust the goons the government put on charge of the refugees. Especially with them bringing Pen-Pen along."

Misato took the pen. "Sure. But you will go with an armed escort. I don't want any trouble, while things quiet down."

"I can take care of myself."

"I know. It's just a precaution."

Asuka nodded, and put the slip on a folder. She sat next to Misato. "Shinji has been acting weird at home."

"Weeeeellll, I just made him an offer and he accepted." Misato smiled.

Asuka rolled her eyes. "I can guess. You are a perverted guardian, after all."

Misato blushed red. "NO! It's not like that!"

Asuka smiled and pumped a fist on the air. "Gotcha! At last!" and laughed at her guardian's embarrasment. "I spoke with him. We had a long, very civil talk. I'm glad you want to adopt him. He needs a family. Now, what about me?" She crossed her arms.

"Jeez, Asuka!" Misato laughed too, and then she stopped. "You'll make me bust a stitch or something. Ow...". Gingerly, she checked her bandages for blood.

"Don't try to change the subject."

"I want to adopt all three of you. Neither has any family, and you're the closest I've had to one in years."

"Wonder Girl too?", Asuka raised an eyebrow. "Are you trying for the collector set or what?"

"Asuka! No. I just want to give you three a family. Or as close to one as I can."

"I'll think about it. I might want to go back to Germany."

"Sure. Take your time. But If you go, please come back to visit us sometime."

"I will. I promise."

* * *

 **Next Morning  
SEELE's Island**

"This situation is unacceptable," whispered Lorenz Kiehl in a meeting room. Very far away from the secure meeting room at the deepest level of the base. "That Ghost is killing us one by one."

The other survivors nodded tiredly. No one added anything. Kiehl knew they were about to give up.

And if they surrendered, he himself would lose the most valuable resource he had left. Human shields.

"If this woman is actually a supernatural agent, she must have some weakness."

The others raised their eyes. Hope. A powerful motivator.

SEELE-08 dragged a hand through his thinning hair, and put his eyeglasses on. "Um... Daylight? She has only appeared by night."

"Might be. Anybody else?"

"Traditionally, cold iron has been a defense against supernatural threats."

"Ash or oak wood stakes against vampires. Silver, garlic, salt. Might be useful as wards."

"Good, what do we have?"

"Well, be might discard oak or ash wood. There are no trees of those especies in the island."

"Maybe not in the island, but we might have some furniture made with those woods."

"Probably in the lower meeting room." Added SEELE-12

"I won't go near that place for anything on the world." SEELE-09 added bitterly.

"OK, then you get the cold iron."

"I have no idea what that could be."

"Iron worked without a forge, you cretin."

They argued for a long time. Kiehl tried to maderate their worse impulses, keeping them productive.

They took several hours to organize. Night surprised them at the kitchen, gathering garlic and salt. Actually, and despite their work translating and interpretating the Dead Sea Scrolls, they had no idea of how to use or make the supposed wards. Still, they put them in rough circles around their beds or next to doors and windows.

That night, there was no attack. Nor the next.

A week passed without the ghostly visits.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

Misato might have the power and mission of the Spectre, but she is still Misato. I tried to write her with a bit of Jim Corrigan´s attitude back in the first draft of the story, but it just didn´t click. So, even as an avenging ghost, she still has her sense of humor as the Onryö, but in a much more morbid way. She also will have fun playing with SEELE.

When writing, I like to visualize the scenes as a comic, the scenes with SEELE in this part, came to me as if drawn by the great, late, Jim Aparo; who drew a memorable run of The Spectre in Adventure Comics, and for a long time, was THE Spectre´s definitive artist.

Mr. Aparo; This one is for you.


	8. Moving On, Part Two

**Moving On; Part Two**

Another day of search. Just like the day before, not a single track, a single clue. Nothing.

The Ghost Woman must have an undetectable hideout. Or maybe...

An interesting idea came to SEELE-06's mind, maybe the Ghost had a vehicle to leave the island. If he could find it, he could get away, leaving the others with the Ghost.

Now... where could be such vehicle be? Surely, it wasn't a chopper, even a stealth helicopter makes noise and leaves tracks. A glider would be perfectly silent, but needs another vehicle dragging it to take off, or dropping from a high place. The only choice left was an ultra-light mini plane. And there was a good place for one to land and take off, at the center of the island, a little mesa.

Surely, some distance away from the island, there was a ship or a minor island where the plane could land and take off.

Furtunately, he had kept one of the missing merc's backpacks. It had rations and camping equipment. After his guard turn with SEELE-11, he went back to his room and changed into dark clothes, including a balaklava; he adjusted the backpack strips, and left the luxurious complex.

The moonlight was enough to see. Carefully, he made tracks to the place, keeping to the shadows.

He heard steps, and hid behind a bush. He stayed perfectly still, he barely dared to breathe.

The white kimono almost glowed in the dark, the ghost walked without a care in the world. Surely, she had hid the miniplane already.

He focused on a training exercise he had learnt in the army. He imagined himself growing roots, like another tree in the woods.

The woman stopped next to his hiding place, just for a moment.

SEELE-06 barely breathed. The temptation to attack was sttrong, but leaving her marooned with the others was a more appealing idea. The woman went on her way, softly humming a song.

The sound disappeared gradually, losing itself in the shadows. SEELE-06 kept still for another twenty minutes, in case the woman came back for something.

Finally, he thought he was alone. When he tried to stand up, he realized he couldn't. From his clothes and skin came a series of tendrils that disappeared in the dirt. His body was completely rigid. After a few moments, he couldn't even move his eyes. The only thing he could look at was a spot on the ground, about two meters away.

He felt somebody breathing on his left ear. A lavender smell enveloped him. A sheen of cold sweat covered his forehead.

"Ah, ah, ha. Leaving so soon? And we were having so much fun!"

Two sharp claws caressed his cheeks, so sharp he barely felt them parting the flesh.

A cold kiss on the back of his neck sealed his fate.

His skin turned into bark, his bones and organs into wood. The pain was pure agony; he tried to scream, but there was no air in his lungs, only sap.

A few minutes later, there was a new tree in the woods.

The Onryö knelt before him, caressing his face with her skeletal fingers. "It's been a pleasure being with you, but I must go. I don't want you to feel alone; here, far from your friends. So I will leave you with two friend of mine to keep you company." A cruel smile parted her cracked porcelain mask, as the Onryö produced a little box from the sleeves of her kimono.

She put the box on the ground, right where her victim could see it. She didn't open it. With a last, mocking smile, she vanished. From inside the box, weak noises could be heard. SEELE-06 could do nothing but watch. Hours later, a small hole was chewed from the inside. The hole grew by the minute, until two insects came from inside the box.

Termes.

The termites held heir blind heads up, like sniffing the air. Without any hesitation, they went towards him.

The others never found him. He had simply vanished into the night. They thought he had commited suicide, drowning at the sea.

* * *

SEELE 01, SEELE 07 and SEELE 03 locked themselves in the library, looking for any clue to stop, capture or, much better, destroy the Ghost Woman before she killed them all.

SEELE-12 had busied himself squirreling away in his room all the alcohol bottles he could find. Sometime in the near future he would get riproaring drunk. Either to celebrate his survival or to save himself the panic of being murdered by a ghost.

SEELE 05, a career soldier, used the gym, trying to burn away the stress through physical exercise. SEELE-11 did the same at the pool, although he knew in a short while it would be nothing but stagnant water, as none of the SEELE members had any idea of how to work the purification system.

Somewhere, SEELE-08 had found a bunch of puzzles, and worked on them obsessively.

SEELE-09 walked around the island, armed with high power rifles, looking for the Ghost or an animal to hunt, whatever he could find first.

* * *

SEELE 01, 07, and 03 had identified, tentatively, the Ghost as some kind of vengeful spirit from japanese culture, due to her accent and clothes. So they centered their research on japanese folklore.

However, they had little about it. Basically, their research pool was limited to a little book of legends, aimed at children, that for some reason had ended up inside a desk drawer. Not enough to mount an effective defense.

So, they were back to square one. That week, all the SEELE members slept surrounded by garlic, circles made with salt, and silver bells. Everything and anything they though could be a deterrent. SEELE-11 had the crazy idea to sleep in an inflatable boat in the pool, believing water could be a barrier for the Ghost.

Eight days later, they thought themselves safe. There had been no further deaths or disappearances, not even a single sighting of the Ghost. The consensus was that, at least one of the various ways they had tried had been the right one.

The ninth day, they decided to try to work some way to leave the island. SEELE-05 knew how to use a sextant, and after a long search on the sabotaged ships, they gathered all the tools and instruments they would need to establish their position, work out a route, and calculate sea currents.

Guided by SEELE-05 and 07, they chose a medium sized ship, and began to work, converting it to a sail ship. It would take a few weeks to finish the work, as they had no experience using the tools, and had to learn on the job.

They only worked by day, and went back to their rooms with a lot of time to spare, checking and rechecking the "wards" they had.

They slept in turns, two or three men in each room.

* * *

"Rei, are you alright?" Misato had noticed the strange look on the ex-pilot's face.

"No. I have no purpose to exist anymore."

Softly, Misato squeezed Rei's fingers. "Maybe it's time to chose a new one."

Rei looked at her, almost desperate. "Can... can I choose."

"Sure! At your age, no one really knows what they want from life. I know I didn't." She kept to herself that, when she was Rei's age, she was in a hospital, completely catathonic.

Rei pursed her lips, forming a line. "I feel lost. Without the Commander and Doctor Akagi, I have no one to ask for guidance."

"Oh, Rei..." Misato looked at her, tenderly. "You have us, Shinji and me. Maybe Asuka too, if she decides to stay. Listen, I talked to Shinji and Asuka about it. I want to adopt you three. Shinji said yes, and Asuka wants to think about it for a while. I want to ask you to be a part of our family."

"I could... stay with Shinji and you?"

"Yes, even if you don't accept, you are very important for Shinji, and I want to take care of you three. I won't leave you alone now, after all we went through. You're welcome to stay with us all the time you want."

"My apartment was destroyed during the last battle. I have stayed at a room here in the Geo-Front ever since."

"More the reason to stay with us. Tell Shinji to accompany you to buy whatever you need."

A gentle look of determination crossed Rei's eyes. "I will. Thank you."

"For now, you can use my room. Just tell that to Shinji or he will leave you his room to sleep on the couch. And we don't want him to kink his neck, do we."

"No, it would pain him."

Misato stared at her for a few seconds, trying to contain her laughter. "Oh, Rei."

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

This time, the Onryö's scene was inspired by both Jim Aparo's work in Adventure Comics (Later republished in the miniseries and later TPB " _Wrath of the Spectre_ "), and more closely by the art of Tom Mandrake on _The Spectre_. If you haven't read them, you are missing out on two of the best comic book series ever!


	9. Moving On, Part Three

**Moving On; Part Three**

The International Tribunal took several days to reach a verdict. The testimonies of Commander Ikari, Vice-Commander Fujutsuki, Doctor Akagi, and the NERV staff were very clear. Along with the disappearance of the members of the Human Instrumentalization Comitee, the conclusion was unavoidable. Both NERV and SEELE had been at the center of a genocidal complot without precedents.

Although most of NERV's staff was completely innocent of any complicity, the higher echelons were guilty of attempting genocide. However, Ikari's testimony was enough to reduce the sentences of his subordinates. The confessions of Fujutsuki and Akagi coincided with his.

Ikari was sentenced to 2,387 consecutive life sentences. Not even death would release him from prison. As part of his sentence, he would be moved to a small NERV complex, built in the Antarctic ruins, deep in the now dead continent. There, he would spend the rest of his life in solitary confinement, away from any human contact. His food and clothes would be delivered to him through automated systems. His cell would be monitored from afar, and in the improbable case he could escape from the complex, he would still have to travel several hundreds of kilometers before even reaching the coast. It would be a killing trip, as the Antarctic was a death zone.

Fujutsuki was sentenced for life, but in consideration to both his age and his acts during the last battle, plus the testimony of the surviving staff, his sentence was commuted to house arrest. He would even be allowed to receive occasional visits.

The work of the lawyers Misato had reccomended to Ritsuko, James Fleischer and Mike Aparo, was enough, barely, to save Ritsuko from jail. She was sentenced to parole for twenty years. She could work as a general practicioner, under close surveillance. Akagi asked to change her field to physical therapy, rehab, and taking advantage of her work with the neural interfases of the Evangelions, design and fitting of prosthesis. She had two debts she wanted to pay. The comitee accepted.

In private, the recordings recovered from the GeoFront and the JSSDF abandoned vehicles were a decisive factor in the lenience shown to the NERV staff. Several high commanders of the JSSDF resigned in disgrace over their involvement in the NERV Massacre; however, at government level, no one wanted to incur the wrath of the woman in the white kimono.

The comitee decided to dissolve NERV and freeze the two remaining Evangelion in their power. A new agency would take NERV's plave, mantaining the EVAs in reserve and readiness, in case they would ever be needed again.

* * *

"Thank you, boys, we're even now." Misato gestured at Shinji and Rei to come in. "No, of course not. Ah, that's more like it. Just let me get a clean bill of health and then we will celebrate as is right and proper. Yes, I'll be seeing you. I'll call you as soon as I get everything sorted out. Give my regards to the children!" Misato closed the phone. "Ah! Those were really good news."

Shinji stood behind the visitor's chair, letting Rei sit down. "Who were you talking with, Misato?"

"Ah, those were Rits' lawyers. They got her a reduced sentence, and she won't be jailed. She will be here tomorrow afternoon, with some cops escorting her, but technically free."

Rei looked at her. "That is good."

"Sure. And I bet you anything that the Commander wishes he had those same lawyers on his side. They pulverized him in court."

Shinji looked a bit sad. "I don't want to talk about him. He got rid of me at the first chance he got."

Misato held his hand. "Well, look at the bright side. Now there's no problems for me adopting you. As soon as I'm out of here, we will start with your adoption. And yours too, Rei."

Taking the chance to change subjects, Shinji commented. "I heard a rumour earlier, they say they will tranfer all NERV's staff who is willing, to a new agency."

"I wouldn't be surprised, after all, NERV is a second generation agency, it was started as GEHIRN."

"Why all these agencies have german names?"

"Do you have any problem with German, Third?", a new voice joined the talk. It belonged to a certain red headed pilot, leaning on the door frame.

"Asuka!"

"In person. And I have news too. Closer to home, literally. First, Hikari and her family are back in Tokyo-3. I got them an apartment in our building, their house was wrecked when..." Asuka shot a fast look at Rei, who lowered her eyes. "Doesn't matter. What matters is we have new neighbors."

"Second, Pen-Pen is back in his fridge. I thing it defrosted while we were away, he got a lot of soggy newspapers out. And Third, you have to get them out the house." Shinji was confused for a second, until he realized the _Third_ Asuka had mentioned was not her third point, but him as the Third Child. Asuka continued, "I put them in a bucket so they wouldn't drip all over the floor."

"It's okay, someone remind me to buy some tuna cans for him."

"And finally, Friday I'll go back to Germany."

Misato's eyes showed her dissapointment for a second. Asuka went on. "I have some matters to attend there; as soon as I have everything under control, I'll come back." Both Misato and Shinji brightened at the prospect. "Misato, I accept your offer, with a pair of caveats."

"Tell me."

"Well," she sighed, "It would not be a complete adoption, my father still lives, and although I don't get along well with him and his wife, I don't think he's as bad as..." Shinji shrank a little, expecting a barb, "like others around, who don't really deserve to have a family. I want to bury the hatchet, and make peace with them. Who knows? They might even turn out not to be as bad as I thought."

Misato stared at her, that much diplomacy was uncharacteristic of the german pilot.

"I'll ask you receive custody of me until I reach adultship. After that, I'll search for my own apartment. By the way, I need you to arrange my entrance to College; it's past time I get to go to a school at my level."

"Uh, sure. It might take a while, Tokyo-3 will be underpopulated for a while."

"I can wait. I got word that the school will be rebuilt once a census of the population is take. So we have at least a month ot two of enforced vacation time. Third," lightly, she punched Shinji´s shoulder. "you owe me a trip to Okinawa, don't even think I have forgotten about it. I'll even teach you to swim. Just get rid of that boring swimsuit before we go. I won't be seen in public with anyone wearing such an eyesore."

Shinji stammered, remembering that red and white bikini and thermal expansion.

Misato decided to rescue him. "Probably I could get you a tutor, Asuka. It will be expensive, but I think we can manage."

"Then it's arranged." Asuka clapped once.

* * *

SEELE 12 entered his room. It had been almost a month without any signs of the Ghost Woman, and work on the ship was almost finished. He checked the salt circle around his bed, and went to the well stocked bar.

He poured himself a glass of brandy, he was on the mood for a celebration. Soon, they would leave behind that island of death. Even being caught and judged was a better prospect than waiting to be murdered by a vengeful spirit, or whatever she was.

Satisfied, he left the glass on the bar, and yawned.

Before realizing it, he had a tequila shot in hand. He tried to drop it, but his fingers didn't obey him anymore. A scream stuck in his throat.

Slowly, his hand raised the glass to his mouth. Desperately, he tried to turn his head away, drop the glass, anything. A cold sheen of sweat covered his forehead as he saw the reflection on the mirror behind the bar. The Ghost Woman smiled at him, occupying the place his own reflection should have been.

"Ah! You have good stuff here! YESSS! This is the best way to end the day! Too bad you have no beer around, but I'm not complaining. I have a lot to celebrate, and you will be with me until the end. _Your end_ , I mean. So, _**BOTTOMS UP**_!"

A cruel smile parted the lips of the cracked porcelain mask. The reflection emptied the glass in a single move. And poured another.

And another.

And another.

Methodically, she emptied bottle ofter bottle, as SEELE-12 mimicked each movement with shaking hands.

* * *

Next morning, the others found him, lying on the floor, reeking to alcohol. Dead.

"Alcohol poisoning. The damned stupid idiot drank himself to death." Sentenced SEELE-08. "Bah, he surely didn't even realize he was killing himself."

* * *

The ship was ready two days later. The only thing left to do was to load the food and water, but the sun was setting down. It would be better to leave it for the next day; for now, they would go back to their rooms and renew their salt and garlic wards.

Just in case.

The group walked away from the wharf, when they heard a splashing sound. They turned around, looking for the source of the noise.

Grotesque white tentacles wrapped around the ship. Instead of suction cups, they were covered with hooked barbs, that made long scratches on the paint, leaving deep gouges in the metal surface. The collective gasp of SEELE's survivors wasn't heard, the noise of steel being crushed drowned it.

Lazily, without any real effort, the tentacles pulled down the ship; slowly, letting it fill with water.

SEELE 11 went crazy at that point.

He took a firefighter's axe, and jumped in the ship. He hacked and slashed the tentacles, cutting them with each strike, like trees. Roaring and ranting with each strike.

A tentacle wrapped around him from behind, another pulled the ax from his hands, like taking a toy from a baby.

A moment later, SEELE-11 was upside down, kicking the air with desperation, trying to get free. For a few moments, the tentacle held him up in the air. Then it lowered him into a small pool of sea water at the beach, submerging his head and shoulders with chilling purpose. Immediately, the waters churned around him, forming a red tinged foam.

Meanwhile, a little further back, the ship had almost disappeared in the waters. SEELE-11 convulsed jerkily for almost a minute, before the horrified eyes of his companions in conspiration. His movementer weakening by the minute, until they stopped completely. A minute passed, and then another.

Finally, with what the survivors would have called contempt, the tentacle threw the dead body to dry land. It fell heavily on the wharf, bouncing once. It lay on a small poll of salt water and blood. The face of the man had disappeared. A small crab, with a white carapace and green legs and pincers rushed back to sea, dragging a piece of meat with its pincers. SEELE-05 was temped to stomp on it, but didn't dare to do it.

With a loud splash, a huge green eye broke the waves, looking at then, one by one, with an inhuman expression. It blinked slowly, like daring them to try something. Anything.

No one moved.

Delicately, a long tentacle took the little crab, taking it back to the water.

The creature went below the waves. Without any hurry.

It had all the time in the world.

* * *

SEELE's survivors stayed on the wharf for a long time, looking at the few traces left of the ship they had put their hopes on.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

The lawyers' names are a little hommage to Michael Fleischer and Jim Aparo, the creative team that revitalized the Spectre back in the 70s.


	10. Endings and Beginnings 1

**Endings and Beginnings**

 **Earlier that day, in Tokyo-2**

"Do you all agree?" the old clerk had a series of documents on the desk, neatly arranged in three piles.

"Yes, sir.  
"Of course we agree."  
"Yes."

The three teenagers took the pens in front of them, and signed each document in their pile. It took a long while for them to finish.

Standing behind them, Misato Katsuragi smiled, almost covering her face with her hands. She was about to cry.

"Um... Your Honor..? C-can I change my surname?"

"Well, if you really want to, you can file the papers right now, I´ll ask for them." The man pressed a button on his intercom, and asked his secretary to bring the documents.

"Thank you, Sir."

"What? Will you change your name, Third?" Asuka slammed her palm on the desk, startling the old clerk.

Shinji stared at her deep blue eyes, and answered softly. "Yes. My parents abandoned me when I was just a little child. I have no pride on the surname Ikari. Misato welcomed me in her home before even knowing me. She is more family to me than... them." Softly, Rei put a hand on his shoulder. Shinji smiled back at her.

"Now, I have a family. That´s all I have ever wanted. I want a name I can really be proud of."

Misato was crying openly at Shinji´s words.

Shinji raised his head, looking at the old clerk´s eyes. "I want to be Shinji Katsuragi, Your Honor."

Misato embraced him from behind, smiling her beautiful smile.

Rei held up a hand. "Your Honor, respectfully, I ask for the same."

Asuka huffed. "You realize you would be the baka´s sister, don´t you?"

Rei looked at her. "He has been like a brother to me since the day he came to Tokyo-3. So, yes."

"Well, don´t count me in the family, I just agreed for my custody to be transfered to Misato."

"Awww... We love you too, Asuka!" Misato extended her hug to encompass all three pilots.

* * *

 **Next day, Katsuragi Apartment.**

"THIIRD! Answer the phone!"

Shinji sighed, covered a pot, and picked the phone up. "Katsuragi´s Apartment."

"Lieutenant Ibuki! Nice to hear you. Yes, yes. Really? Sure, I will tell her. Bye."

Asuka entered the kitchen, drying her hair with a towel. "So, who was it?"

"It was Lieutenant Ibuki. She says the UN will announce the new agency that will replace NERV later this week, and they want Misato as its Commander!"

"Well, it was time they raised her pay grade."

"I guess we will still have to pilot the EVAs." Shinji added sadly.

"Not me. Unit-02 won´t work anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"I don´t want to talk about it, baka. It is a very private matter."

"Well, I guess I won´t pilot either. I really never liked it." He shrugged.

Rei entered the kitched, having heard the conversation.

"I will pilot if needed. I can synchronize a bit with Unit-01."

"Asuka, Rei. I think we should wait until Misato comes home to discuss this. I wonder where she is..."

* * *

SEELE-05 sat on the ruins of his bed, surrounded by the tools they had used to modify the ship to sail. He had reacted violently to the sinking. In his frustration, he had thestroyed his room.

He panted, his throat raw from all the screaming.

He was considering seriously to follow SEELE-12´s example, and drink himself to death, when he felt a familiar fragance on the air. He took a heavy wrench, and turned to face his enemy.

The Onryö stood next to the bed´s ruins. With a simple hand gesture, she paralized him, with the wrench held high over his head.

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Such a bad temper... And to think I had a proposal for you."

SEELE-05 just stared at her.

Delicately, the Onryö took the wrench from his hands, dropping it on the matress. Her hair waving behind her. "But if you don´t want to listen, well, we can go on like we have done until now." And she nailed him with a look from her black eyes, waiting for an answer.

Finally, SEELE-05 nodded slowly. The porcelain mask smiled.

"There´s one SEELE member I want you to kill; if you do, I won´t kill you." You cand choose the way to do it, but it has to be today- Tonight at the most. Do you understand?" Images of his companions floated around the Ghost Woman, SEELE-09´s face was the last to disappear.

Slowly, SEELE-05 nodded again.

"Well, then we have a deal." And disappeared. Free from the paralysis, SEELE-05 almost fell to the floor.

* * *

Meanwhile, in SEELE-09´s room, a similar talk had started.

* * *

The next hours, both SEELE-05 and 09 worked on their murderous plans.

SEELE-09 was more of an oportunist, so he hid several guns in his clothes, plus a knife.

SEELE-05, more methodical, decided on a simple ambush.

By the end of the day, both would die at each other´s hands.

The Onryö had a good laugh at their expense.

* * *

In the deepest level of the complex, SEELE-08 and SEELE-07 were looking for a place to hide from the Onryö. They arrived to the deep circular pit that connected with all the levels, and was used to move heavy cargo from a level to another. As they were looking around, the light started to blink. They ran for the stairs. The sound of steps in the dark hall stopped them cold.

Thre she was, the Onryö´s hair and her white kimono waved slowly around her body as if she was underwater. The Ghost Woman walked slowly towards them, her feet stepping delicately on the ceiling of the hall.

Scared out of his wits, SEELE-07 held on to the safety railing around the cargo zone. That saved his life. SEELE-08 ran to the center of the pit, the fastest route away from the Ghost Woman.

One gesture of her claws, and SEELE-07 fell down, his face hit painfully the cold metal.

Finally, the apparition spoke. "Time for you to fall."

A feeling of emptiness in their stomachs invaded them. For a fleeting moment, they felt weightless. And then, gravity reclaimed them both. SEELE-08 hanging from the railing, as if a giant had turned the whole complex upside down. His feet almost touched the next upwards level, but he had no way to land safely there, he might slip to his death.

At the pit´s center, SEELE-07 was not so lucky. With one hand, he grabbed the handle of a maintenance hatch. The hatch was ripped open by his weight, almost breaking the hinges.

A terrified scream made its way past SEELE-07´s lips as the hinches broke one after the other. The Onryö sat on the edge of the upper lever, crossing her ankles delicately, enjoying the show.

SEELE-07 fell upwards, screaming all the way to the ceiling, until he crashed against the metal plates with a sickening splat. SEELE-08 held on to the railing with all his strenght.

The Onryö disappeared, and gravity was restored to normal. SEELE-08 dropped to the floor, relieved to be still alive.

He held on to his chest, fearing a heart attack. Over him, the crushed dead body fell down, landing near the hatch opening on the center of the pit.

* * *

 **Author´s Notes**

I´ve wanted to write a "falling up" scene for a very long time. I bet Jim Aparo would have done a great visual job with something like it.


End file.
